Kenpo, this article might take your attention if you're interested in history too. To some, this event is the foundation stone of Japenese- Turkish friendship.Ottoman Frigate Ertugrulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_frigate_Ertu%C4%9FrulAs you said, I think Turkish and Japanese people have a lot in common.

I really respect your history; I have Ottoman swords back home, the YATAGAN, man I LOVE that sword.

Turks were great warriors, just like us Japanese.

But explain me one thing, why do some Turks look so Japanese?

Like Emre Gungor, if I saw him walking in Japan I would really think he was Japanese.

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Hey Kenpo, we also feel close to Japanese people, in fact I even had a Japanese neighbour( Kawaisan:) )

About your question, it is because our roots are originally from Asia, you must know about the other Turkic nations, for example Kazaks appearances are also so close to yours, and they are our bloods, brothers, we were like them before we have come here, we succeded to prevent our culture as much as possible from assimilation, but we're living on those lands over thousand years, so I cant talk the same about our pyhsical appearances:) But still we are mostly swarthy, and we do have some people like Emre Güngör with preserved genes:)

It's not strange for me. I love Balkan since I was a kid and saw photos of Bulgaria and Croatia. I wanted to go there but my parents prefer spending holiday in Poland. I finally saw Bulgaria this year and it was amazing.

I can totally say I love Balkan, not because od hot chicks or adventures, but because of the atmosphere and the beaty of the country. So I can understand Kenpo's love for Turkey.

Over a long term, climate has a big impact on visual appearences. Hence, we see different skin, eye, hair colors in different Turkic tribes as they have spreaded around the world everywhere. Look at Turkmens in Iraq and Syria, they look like Arabs visually. Look at Turkmens in Turkmenistan, they look different than those other Turkmens. Look at Turkic people in northern parts in Russia, Balkans, etc, they have yellow red hairs, whiter skins, etc. Even in Turkey, look at a Turk in Izmir (whiter skin, yellow hair, green, blue eyes, etc) while Turks in Kars, north east Turkey, they look like Azerbaijanis. So, my theory, climate effect, on Turks is valid, especially for Turks cause their skins etc are flexible to changes in climates. I lived in different parts of Turkey, as well as out of Turkey. Everybody guessed my origin differently (as my appearence was changing after a year or two.) When I was in Europe, people there were guessing me as Spainish for ex.

As for Japan - Turk connection: Well, historically, there is a relativeness between Japans and Turks though distantly. In a broader nationalism sense, you heard Turan? It covers nations from Japans to Turks to Hungarians. Also, Japan language too is in the same language family with Turkic languages, Altaic language. So, culturally Turks and Japans are not so distant actually. However, OP's examples above by some players, etc are more about similarity in appearences. Most of them are probably Tatars, another Turanic group whose appearences with Japans-like eyes look more Asians whereever they are, whether in Ukraine, or Poland or Turkey, etc. Lets not forget there are more than a million or two millions of Tatars in Turkey. There is a big city in Turkey, Eskisehir, which can be considered as Tatar city. Those examples given above maybe originally from that city in Turkey.

i dont think climate makes a dark brown eyed person blue eyed one...its more like about mixture of ethnic groups...physical differences displays that belonging to an ethnicity is more like belonging to a culture...

sorry to burst the bubble here, for our dear friends in japan and turkey, but there is not much genetic relationship between the turkish people and other central and east asian peoples.

the people of modern turkey are more akin to the "caucasian" peoples that historically populated anatolia/middle east/southern europe (balkans). while the language came from central asia, from the people that are the "true" or originally named "turkic" peoples, this is an example of "language displacement," where a minority, foreign language is adopted by a native people. not only this native population adopted this language, but also started calling themselves "turks". the original turkic peoples are more akin to the mongols, such as kazakhs and kyrghiz, although many other central asian peoples are now a mixture of the original "caucasian" people of iranic origin (of persian culture) living in the central asian basin and a long string of "turkic" invaders. you can see that people such as uzbek, turkmen, uyghur and hazara are more of a mixture of both races (and so are many russians, ukrainians and eastern europeans - "tartars"). even kazakhs are estimated to be 70% central asian turkic and 30% caucasoid.

here's an article from wikipedia to explain the genetics of turkish people from anatolia:

just watching the iranian team sort of reminded me of this thread. obviously many iranians have turkic or mongol blood but probably a minority. i'd say in the iranian team, both ghaemi and mahdavi look like they may have some turkic blood. also the club player mikaeil majer.

but i just found out that one of most famous football players in iran was this gentleman, khodadad azizi. he looks very central asian.

I'm actually very fascinated by Japanese culture as it is very similar to the turkish culture, why some of us look a little Japanese is because, some of our ancestors are mongolian, my ancestors were mongolian actually and some of our ancestors are actually Chinsese. But anyway, if you look through history, Turkey and Japan have been through quite a lot toegther, so we may have mixed. I don't have many Japanese friends because I live in the UK and there aren't that many Japanese people over here, so it's nice to meet you.

The Turkish and Japanese language are very similar, some words in Turkish are actually the same as words in Japanese, but just may have a different meaning. Turkey is in Asia, and a lot of people are very mixed via history, ancestors and exectra. My first interst in Japan first started from Anime, I got very interested into it, and then realised how similar Japanese people's culture is to Turkish and Islamic culture, the food is alos very similar. Sushi, Takiyaki, Ramen and Miso Soup are some of my most favourite Japanese dishes. Hopefully I'll get to visit Japan one day, really nice to meet you.

Turkey is a multicultured country..bcz of that whoever comes to Turkey ,finds some similarities btw his and Turkey's culture..this is not unique to Japenese people but so is for Balkan and Caucasian countries such as Serbia,Bulgaria,Greece,Armenia and the others.....

i was just reminded of this thread because i'm just watching this video on YT of US x ITA on turkish tv, and to me, turkish sounds a little bit like korean! since i don't speak either language, it's probably a very rough impression but still…